Code Militia

I  have posted a new sample on IIS.NET demonstrating how to programmatically change the managed runtime version of an application pool in IIS 7.0.  I have posted code in VB.NET and C#.  Enjoy....

When I interviewed with Microsoft, I was asked, "What is one thing we can count on you to do at Microsoft?"  My reply was brief: "You can count on me to complain."  My interviewer suddenly took on the puzzled look that an interviewee would...

It's one type of incompetence to keep the personal identifiers and financial data of customers on your laptop and then lose it -- twice;  It's an entirely different type of incompetence that allows government data to be compromised through a...

Sahil Malik, a prolific speaker, Microsoft MVP and author of "Professional ADO.NET 2.0" is holding a one-day ADO.NET boot camp in Charlotte next month.  If you are in the area, I think this class will definitely give you your money's worth. ...

I was contacted by a customer who commented that he could not add a Script Map to IIS 5.1.  After selecting his executable for the script map and adding his extension, the "OK" button was still disabled -- preventing him from committing the script...

A few days ago, one of the many distribution lists I belong to was presented with the following requests:  I’m trying to create a Web Service in Visual Studio .NET 2003 and am getting an error “Visual Studio .NET has detected that the specified...

Being a new employee at Microsoft leaves me at a bit of a disadvantage in weeks like this.  First, we hear that our "chief blogging officer", Robert Scoble is leaving the company.  Today, it’s been announced that BillG will be stepping back...

Since coming to Microsoft, I have heard a LOT about our policy on "work-life balance".   If you aren't familiar with what work-life balance is, a simple search on the web should satisfy your curiosity.  Essentially, we believe...

Recently, an old co-worker contacted me to ask me a question about code performance. Specifically, he was emitting IL from his code and had some questions about some of the opcode usage he witnessed when viewing the IL of some compiled assemblies. ...

The IIS 7 Commander-in-chief, Bill Staples , has just released a screenshot of his new 17" MacBook running IIS 7!  I simply must get one now! (Cross-posted from http://blogs.msdn.com/tobint/archive/2006/05/24/606310.aspx. Please use this link...

Now that Beta 2 has been announced and IIS 7 is now publicly available to beta testers on both the Vista and Longhorn platforms, our new portal, IIS.NET is now open and live!  Many long hours were spent on this by some great guys here at Microsoft. ...

We're hiring!  Take a look at the details below "Do you love Internet and Web server technologies? Join the IIS UE team and work on the coolest version of Internet Information Services (IIS) ever. IIS 7.0 joins forces with ASP.NET to deliver a...

Nearly a year ago, I blogged about the fact that I had no "cool" technologies in my house.  I didn't own a single gadget that anyone would consider to be "up to date" by any standard. I didn't own a PDA, a laptop, or even a modern cell-phone. ...

Sahil has once again shown true insight and provided a list of common diseases found in our industry.  Do you have any of these symptoms? http://codebetter.com/blogs/sahil.malik/archive/2006/05/03/64255.aspx...

Much has been said about the Mort, Elvis and Einstein controversy over the past few years (yes, years).  The past few days have been no exception.  One of our MVPs is apparently upset about them, and apparently some employees are not too happy...

The news has been reporting about China's President Hu visiting Seattle, its businesses and, of course, Bill Gates' home.  What wasn't widely publicised was the number of protesters in the area.  Monday night, I had to run back up to my office...

A little over a year ago, I emailed Steve Ballmer at Microsoft directly about an idea to make a digital, online user group community. I wanted to be able to let user groups from across the country make their monthly presentations available via the...

As many of you know, I received a Microsoft MVP award this year for C#.  I've been asked a few times what makes an MVP -- despite there being several pieces of information available to answer that question, I thought I'd answer it quickly myself....

I just received a request to ask around for anyone who might be interested in a position with Microsoft Learning.  The job description is below.  If you are interested, please use my contact form to ask how to apply. Would you like...

I've started a second blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/tobint/ in light of my employment at MS.  The second blog will be targetted toward IIS and my work at Microsoft.  I will continue to post technical content about personal projects here if the...

Microsoft Learning has put together a great series of training courses which are available now at a substantial discount.  Take advantage of the deal while it lasts (sale ends June 30th)! https://www.microsoftelearning.com/visualstudio2005/#upgradingfromVB60...

As an outsider to Microsoft, I've often said that one of the downfalls of the company was their ability to complicate the simplest idea.  I was, apparently, not the only one to think so.  This video at iFilm.com provides a little insite into...

It's amazing what happens when the CFO of a company with an already over-inflated stock price makes a small statement like -- "clearly our growth rates are slowing. You can see that each and every quarter". While he was only stating what should have been...

I have now been asked twice why you wouldn't just use the [Synchronization] attribute when you want to make a class thread-safe. I figured I'd share what little information I have on this topic to you since I happen to have an answer. (as opposed to "the"...

OK, so I've re-learned the importance of not only backing up, but verifying backups.  The other day, I decided to upgrade my blog software to CommunityServer 2.0.  I apparently messed something up and before you know it, I had deleted my CS...